Goodbye Snow, Hello Joe

In our infinite wisdom and expansive knowledge of weather systems, we decided that heading 65 miles south would surely bring us better meteorological conditions.  True, there wasn’t much snow on the ground, and no, no precipitate fell from the sky during our stay, but Joe’s Valley was not what a Californian would call warm.  Temperatures dropped down to 20 degrees at night, the dogs’ water bowl froze, and the inside of our rain fly was covered in frost from the condensation from our breaths freezing during the night.

Fortunately, we came armed and prepared with footy pajamas, which we proudly strutted around camp wearing.  Chelsea’s jams sport rocket ships and I am rocking the sports balls model.  How could you go wrong when wearing a full body fleece suit? 

Despite the cold temps of the night, the weather actually warmed up to pleasant sending temps during the day.  Cooler weather means better friction on the rock and some climbers seek out cold, crisp days to send their projects.  We stayed in our sleeping bags until late morning, and when the sun was sufficiently shining we would wake up and go explore the vast boulder fields of Joe’s Valley.  Joe’s is on BLM land, which is a great, great thing!  It means that camping is free and there are basically no regulations, so the dogs had an awesome time running free, exploring and exhausting themselves during our stay.   

Chelsea and I don’t boulder too much, and if you were to watch us try you would probably understand why.  We spend more time sitting on our crashpads lounging around than we do climbing, and once we decide to attempt a boulder problem, we often make it partway up and then look down, wimp out, and down climb.  This is not to say that I don’t enjoy bouldering, because I do like it when the circumstances are right.  Circumstances are right when the following conditions exist: there are spotters and crash pads, good landings and short problems, my psyche is high, I’m not too hungry or thirsty, the temperature is 67 degrees, I’ve eaten pancakes for breakfast, I’m wearing the right shoes and my Prana pants, the rock is pretty and the problem is not too hard.  Har har.  I like to boulder.  Sometimes.

Anyway… in thinking about bouldering and climbing in general and how I love to do it, and how much time I am devoting to it, I also start to wonder why I climb.  In comparison to the best, my abilities are almost embarrassingly insignificant.  I was incredibly stoked to send a V5 in Joe’s, my third problem at that grade.  Angie Payne recently became the first woman to send V13.  Grades are hard to explain, and quite controversial these days but it does not suffice to say Payne climbs as hard as me +8.  No, that won’t do at all.  Maybe it would do to say that Payne climbs 8 times harder than me, or even exponentially harder.  Take the V5 I did in Joe’s, tilt it so that it is at a 45 degree angle with the ground, make the crimps even smaller, and add 8 or 10 extra moves and you might have something close to the Automator, the V13 that Payne did. 

Do I feel bad that I do not climb as hard as the best?  No, not at all.  I feel extremely happy that I can be stoked about the level that I climb at.  For me, climbing is a very personal thing- an escape, a means of dealing with the outside pressures of the world.  I climb for myself, for the pleasure that it brings me, and not to satisfy anyone else or anyone else’s notion of what climbing should be.  I don’t feel that I need to climb “hard” to be happy or to be successful.  Who’s to say what “hard” is anyway.  It’s quite possible that I had to try harder to climb that V5 than many people have to try to climb V10. 

In her interview in the October issue of Urban Climber, Angie Payne says,

“I realize that when climbing is all I have- if I were a professional climber 24/7- I’d really lose my motivation for climbing… It’s hard for me to think about making a living for the rest of my life from climbing because it takes the enjoyment out of it.  I have a much harder time staying motivated when I don’t have other things in my life to balance it out.”

On a much smaller scale, I am realizing that same thing on this trip.  This trip is about climbing and climbing is all that has been on the agenda.  However, I have noticed that I have gotten extremely lazy when it comes to climbing these days.  I take more rest days, do fewer routes on our ‘on’ days and have shied away at trying harder routes.  I didn’t really connect what was happening until a recent conversation with a non-climber.  She helped me realize that when there is only one thing that you have to do, you tend to want to do it less.  Obviously, this is not a have to situation, it is a get to.  I am extremely blessed to be able to be taking this trip, I am completely enamored with climbing, but I am also realizing that I need balance.  I have always wondered where the line gets drawn between work and play.  When you make your passion into a career for example, do you lose some of your enthusiasm for that activity?  I have always been passionate about animals and used to think that I wanted to be a vet.  After much pondering, I was able to discern that yes I love animals, but no I do not want to make a career out of that love.  When I switched my major to Recreation, I wondered if trying to make playing outside my job would make playing outside less enjoyable and more of a chore.  I worried that I might ruin it for myself. 

Now I am beginning to see that life requires balance.  If your life centers solely on one thing, the scale will begin to tip and before you know it you will lose your equilibrium and go teetering off an edge.  On this trip I am enjoying having time to finally sit down and read some novels.  It is wonderful to get lost in the pages of a book, not because you are literally lost in the nonsensical words of a textbook, but because you are on a journey through the eloquently written words of a talented author.  I am experiencing great appreciation for my friends and family because being away makes you miss them and realize that there are voids when they are not there.  I am discovering the way that nature makes me feel whole and yet very empty at the same time as I search for a way to fill the gap of someone who is no longer here.  Balance.

 As the editor of Urban Climber, Andrew Tower says, “It’s like we all forget we participate in the most insignificant activity on the planet.  We are rock climbers.”  We climb up rocks.  The hard way.  For no particular reason at all.  How serious can you really be?  :-) 

Maple Canyon

We left Colorado down one, as Casey purchased a truck in Denver and made his way to Yosemite to pursue his dream of climbing a big wall in the valley.  Our manlessness did not last long however, as we picked up our good friend Eric in Reno on our way back out to Utah.  We headed to Maple Canyon to pull on the unique cobblestones that make up the walls there. 

We arrived late at night, got some sleep and woke up psyched to climb.  The weather wasn’t looking too promising, but I put on my harness and shoes, racked up with quickdraws and began to climb.  About 30 seconds after I started climbing, it started to rain.  Not wanting to leave any gear behind, I just kept climbing so I could lower off the fixed anchors at the top and retrieve all my gear on the way down.  The rain just kept getting harder, the rock slicker, and my glasses more spotted with moisture.  Little did we know then, that the rain would not stop for the rest of our time in Maple.

Although the weather was soggy, we were still able to do a fair amount of climbing due to the overhanging nature of the rock in most of the canyon.  Even if we weren’t able to climb, it would have been enough just to hike through the canyon and admire the beautiful fall colors.  There were vibrant leaves lining the roads and paths and watching over us from the trees above. 

The canyon was void of people, except one other campsite, which was full of neon orange clad deer hunters.  They waved at us jovially each morning, and we smiled back at them, but it was clear that we were in separate worlds, neither group quite understanding the appeal of what the other was doing.  After a few days, one other pair of climbers showed up who were also on a road trip.  We enjoyed a full day of damp climbing with Max and Dan.  That night, we went to sleep and were kept up for most of the night by a torrential downpour.  The downpour turned to snow and we woke up in a winter wonderland!  Everything was covered in fluffy light snow at least an inch thick. 

Max and Dan met us at our campsite and we dug our stove and cooking utensils out of the snow on our picnic table.  We shared a delicious breakfast of eggs and pancakes and packed up camp with frozen fingers.  Although I didn’t climb too hard or too much in Maple, I had an awesome time running through the rain, playing with the dogs and enjoying the company of Chelsea and Eric. 

Eric is an amazing climber and I am so glad he got to join us on this leg of the trip.  Watching Eric climb is like watching a combination between a well-choreographed ballet routine and football player taking down a brick wall.  Grace, smoothness, and infallible technique mixed with pure, raw power.  Eric moves quickly and efficiently up the wall, making onlookers think, “I could do that” until he explodes upward and dynos for an impossible sloper, grabbing it while his feet dangle below him.  Watching him climbs definitely inspires me to improve.

After packing up we headed towards Salt Lake where Eric would fly out the following evening.  We picked up a guidebook for the next leg of our trip, caught a movie, met up with some friends, and prepared to head south where we hoped for warmer temperatures.  

Boulder

“No other sport has been so permeated with this word: psyched.  Your little sister does not get psyched for swim practice, nor does your grandfather get psyched to play eighteen holes of golf.  The term is ours, by and large, because it’s so essential for success in climbing.  You cannot progress, send your hardest project, or make your next road trip a reality without being psyched.”  Mike Williams, Dead Point Magazine

Psyche is crucial.  And nowhere are people more psyched than in Boulder, Colorado.  Boulder is a climbing mecca, boasting endless opportunities for all types of climbers.  There are the Flatirons, rising above the city, and welcoming those interested in long, easy, traditionally protected climbs.  There is Eldorado Canyon which features everything from very easy trad lines, to intense sport climbs to barely protectable routes rated with an X which means that falling will probably result in your death.  The possibilities continue at Clear Creek, Boulder Canyon and the Flagstaff Boulders.  For those looking to push their limits above a crash pad, there are the immaculate boulders at Rocky Mountain National Park, just a breathtaking hike up to 10,000 feet away.  Also well known for bouldering is Mt. Evans and the latest area to be developed, Lincoln Lake.  Lincoln Lake, which was developed this summer by some of the top names in climbing, is home to the highest concentration of hard boulder problems in the United States. 

Boulder is home to some of the best climbing to be found in the US, and many of the best climbers in the US call Boulder home.  It is not unusual to recognize climbers from your favorite movie or magazine warming up on your project at the gym.  It is not atypical to see them hiking up to the crag at the same time you are.  You might see them dancing at a club or a bar downtown.  You may even get the opportunity to spend a night hanging out with them at their place.  And if you are so lucky to get this chance, and if you are not too star struck to function properly and stop giggling, you will realize that these people are just like you and me.  They love what they do, they get up in the morning to climb rocks, they bump their music on the way to the crag, they joke with their friends.  Just like you and me.  Except, that they are infinitely better at what they do.

Despite this exorbitant gap in ability levels, we can all hang out and talk climbing.  No one is going to ask me how hard I climb.  No one is going to look up my 8a scorecard (I don’t have one anyway) and decide I am not good enough to be sitting in that room.  I can sit there and give Dave Graham a hard time for never visiting Yosemite.  In walk Nalle and Jon and we can sit and laugh at the same dumb jokes on South Park.  Just like you and me.

So what makes these guys so good?  Are people born good climbers?  Are they engineered differently?  I think it is psyche.  These guys are fanatical.  They climb year round, traveling to the best spots, finding the prime weather.  They are so amped on finding the best, the hardest, the coolest and the most beautiful climbs.  They live and breathe for this.  When I used to teach climbing lessons at the gym, I always told people that the best way to get better at climbing was to climb.  These guys (and gals) are living evidence of this.  They climb and climb and climb whether is it outside or in the gym and you can see the results.  Climbing all the time, paired with indescribable psyche makes these climbers unstoppable.  The mind is a great limiter and if you can break through that barrier, who is to say what is possible?     

Go to a gym in Boulder and you will find a very different scene than in a gym in California.  There are a lot more people there, and the people are collectively climbing much harder.  Why is this?  In California there seems to be a certain mindset about climbing in the gym, a certain attitude.  It seems that a lot of people think that climbing in a gym makes you a gumby (basically a newbie) and “real” climbers only climb outside, or perhaps they might deign to climb indoors if it is raining out.  In Boulder however, EVERYONE climbs in a gym.  Climbing indoors is how you train.  You can set specific moves that you want to work on, do laps, and get strong.  I don’t think there is anything at all wrong with climbing in a gym, it is where I started climbing and where I learned a lot of the skills and technique that I have today.

So yes, that is all to say that Boulder is great!  The psyche is high and the climbing is awesome.  We arrived in Boulder on October 4^th and we stayed for 12 days.  We got to climb at the Flatirons, Flagstaff Boulders, RMNP, Clear Creek and Eldorado Canyon.  We got to check out Boulder’s newest gym, Movement, which is an amazing facility, not to mention a very green building, which uses primarily solar power.  We got to reunite with old friends and best of all we got to enjoy the amazing hospitality of my Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeff!  Anut and UJ were nice enough to give us beds to sleep in, showers to get clean in, a kitchen to bake in and many wonderful meals to fill our bellies.

 

It is quite possible that we spent more time eating than climbing in Boulder as we got in the baking mood and made pumpkin bars, apple brown betty, molten lava cakes and apple pie.  Anut cooked us wonderful meals of steak, chicken, soup and more.  I think we were subconsciously building up fat stores in preparation for the cold weather that we are soon to encounter. 

Today we will head to Maple Canyon in Utah, from there Joe’s Valley and then on to Indian Creek.  I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween and I can’t forget to say, LET’S GO GIANTS!

Titan and Star’s Guide to Life on the Road- First Installment

Titan’s Tip: When you get the chance to sleep on a bed, take it.  When you’re on the road, chances to sleep on a real bed are few and far between.  Those little dog mats that Laura got us to sleep on in the tent don’t really do it for me, so here are six easy steps to securing a bed when the chance comes along.

Step 1: I like to start out on my doggy bed or on the floor so Laura isn’t suspicious of me

Step 2: Once Laura is asleep, I make my first move, which is to curl up on the corner of the bed

Step 3: Once I have secured a spot on the bed without waking Laura up, I start to stretch out slowly

Step 4: Once I have reached full extension from nose to tail, I start to extend my legs

Step 5: Little by little, I extend my legs until I am pushing Laura off the bed

Step 6: Before you know it, I have taken over the bed and Laura is precariously balancing on the edge while I snore in blissful doggy slumber!

Grand Teton Video

Here is a little video I made of our time climbing the Grand Teton.  As you can tell, I am just learning how to edit videos, sorry!  

Idaho and Utah

After an amazing weekend in the Tetons, we returned to the ranch to pick up the very, very tired and happy dogs from the ranch.  We loaded up the car and started to make our way towards City of Rocks.  On our way there we stopped in a town and did some laundry and bought groceries for the upcoming week.  We arrived in the City just after dark and quickly fell asleep.  In the morning, we were shocked to see all the crazy rock formations around us! 

The City of Rocks reminds me a lot of one of my other favorite places, Joshua Tree.  It really is like a little city, with tons of rock formations making up the buildings.  There is everything from boulders, to huge multi pitch length formations.  The granite is sharp and full of features like patinas.  It is also very sticky so you can smear your feet on the smallest lumps in the rock and they will hold fast. 

It was nice to be able to settle down somewhere and really set up camp.  The campsites are set among the rocks and have a unique feel to them.  We reserved a site for a full week and unloaded our car for the first time.  We set up our tents, our stove and our hammock and made our campsite our new home.  Everything in the City is fairly close, so you can walk to the different crags and go back to your campsite and make lunch.  The proximity of the climbing and the short approaches make for a mellow day of climbing and shade chasing.  Our first day was a little overcast, and the night windy and cold, but after that the weather heated right up and stayed excellent for the duration of our stay.  The coldest it got at night was probably 40 degrees and the warmest day probably hit 90.   

We were fortunate enough to be in the City during the full moon.  At night the sky would be perfectly clear and you could watch the moon rise over the mountains.  It would illuminate the sky so brightly that there was no need for headlamps.  The rocks would bask in the moonlight and beg you to climb them.

Besides being quite fortunate with our weather and experiencing the full moon, we were also lucky to have some visitors!  Our good friends Eric and Corbin drove out for 4 days from Lake Tahoe.  It was so good to see them, climb together, and hang out around the campfire at night and share meals together.  Their psyche was great to witness as they pulled down on many cool classics at the City. 

There is a town just outside the City called Almo.  It consists of a general store, a steakhouse, and Rock City, which is well stocked with beer and snacks and also makes pizza.  During the midday heat, we ventured into town and got ice cream and passed some time on the grass in front of the general store (the oldest store in Idaho!).  It was interesting to see the slow moving pace of this small town, where climbers may well outnumber inhabitants. 

After a few days of climbing, we started getting used to the rock and sending some really fun climbs.  One of my favorite climbs was called Another Pretty Face.  It was a thin, technical slab- my favorite kind of climbing!  You had to maneuver through each part of the climb very carefully and delicately.  Slab climbing requires a lot of balance, a lot of focus and a lot of patience.  I enjoyed moving slowly up the climb, looking for the perfect place to put my foot so that I could transfer all my weight onto it and push up while balancing my hands against the blank rock face.

On our last evening in the city, the hottest day of the week, we went into town and Casey made a phone call to his old boss who used to work at Black Diamond.  He set up a private tour of the Black Diamond headquarters in Salt Lake City for us the following morning at 11.  We realized that we were 1. In Idaho and 2. Hadn’t showered in eight days.  We decided that a shower was necessary before reentering civilization and were fortunate enough to find some at a nearby RV campground.  Now that we were clean(ish) we just had to be in Utah by 11 AM.  Fortunately it is only about a 3-hour drive; unfortunately we had loads of stuff to pack up.  We managed to hit the road by 7:20 and we headed east, right into the sunrise.

We realized just how rural of a town we were in when we had to drive 50 miles on a dirt road to reach the highway towards Utah.  It was quite a battle of sunrise vs. very dirty car windshield, and the poor visibility may or may not have cost a large bird its life.  3 hours later we were parked in front of Black Diamond and psyched for our tour! 

We got to walk around the awesome building and look at all the cool pictures on the walls and then we got to go downstairs and see where things are manufactured.  It was so cool to see carabiners, crampons and cams being made.  We were like little kids in a candy store, ooing and ahing at everything we saw.  We got to see the place where products are tested- a giant freezer full of ski boots, trekking poles, ice screws and more, and then we got to see a carabiner in a break test!  The carabiner was pulled until it started stretching and eventually with a loud ‘pop!’ the gate broke.  Awesome!

After the Black Diamond tour we noticed a poster advertising the Reel Rock Film Tour, which happened to be showing that very evening in Salt Lake.  We were thrilled that our timing was such that we would get to see the show, which consists of a bunch of new climbing movies that are sure to get you psyched.  We headed to the theater to pick up tickets and were super excited to see a Great Harvest Bread Co. across the street.  We discovered Great Harvest in Jackson and were thrilled to see another location.  When you walk in you get a huge slice of bread to sample and you can choose to purchase a loaf from the various varieties that are being made on that day.  After getting some bread we plopped down on a small patch of grass next to the sidewalk in front of a fruit stand.  We got to talking with the fruit vendor lady, Emi.  Emi was very talkative and full of good information about climbing in the area and camping with dogs.  She informed us about the difficulties we might face trying to camp with the dogs in the area because all of the cities water comes from the canyons where the campgrounds are so dogs aren’t allowed because they could contaminate the water.  Rather than stress, we kept sitting on the grass eating our cinnamon pull apart bread and a box of fresh raspberries.  I think Emi took pity on us because she offered us a bag of about 10 ears of fresh corn.  She said she wouldn’t be able to sell all the corn she had so we might as well take it. 

After awhile Emi approached us with an unusual favor.  “I forgot that I had my friends car seat in the back of my car and I have to load up all this fruit, so I was wondering if there is any way you could take this to her house… I’ll give you some free raspberries!”  We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and replied, “sure, why not?”  It was indeed, one of the more random requests I have received, but I sure do love raspberries.  It was amazing to see the complete trust that a stranger could put in us, although I suppose we wouldn’t have much use for a child’s car seat in our own lives.  We took the car seat, strapped our corn and raspberries into it and walked down the block, loaded it in our car and dropped it off on a porch not too far away. 

After dropping off the seat, it was time for the film fest, which was awesome.  The films were all great and we left the theater stoked, but soon realized that we still didn’t have a place to sleep.  Casey asked around outside the front door and soon saw a group of BD employees, so he asked for camping suggestions.  “You can camp in my backyard,” one of them offered.  Done deal.  We navigated through the city blocks of Salt Lake, which confuse me with their numbers and duel directions (East 100 South… what?!)  We got temporarily lost, but found the house, made our way to the back yard and fell asleep, being periodically woken up by the barking, howling, yowling, and yapping of the dogs on all four sides of the fence we were surrounded by. 

In the morning, it was clear that city life wasn’t cutting it and we headed for American Fork.  We got directions and suggestions from people at two different climbing gyms, picked up a guidebook and a chocolate bar at REI and headed up the canyon.  It was absolutely beautiful driving into the park, fall colors burst forth from the trees that lined either side of the road and beautiful rock jutted up from amongst the colors.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the climbing, just because I wasn’t used to the slippery rock, but it was cool to see a new area.  We drove up the canyon and found a beautiful campsite along the creek.  Besides being beautiful, this campsite was free which made it that much better to us.

That night we made a fire and buried our corn deep within it.  We impatiently turned our corn every few minutes until we decided that it must be ready.  The corn was delicious and soon our bellies grew full and our eyes grew tired.  We fell asleep to the sound of the creek running by and woke up to find a fresh, brisk fall morning awaiting us.  A bit of climbing and we were off again, on the road toward Provo.

Provo is the home of one of my very favorite families that used to live next door to me in California, and at the time there were 6 kids, which meant there was never a dull moment in the neighborhood, never a lack of playmate.  We would play in the creek, jump on the trampoline, have street hockey, football, basketball and kickball games in the street, ride bikes, rollerblades and unicycles and go to the park all day everyday.  Being in Utah, I knew that I had to go visit and was delighted to hear Page’s joyful voice on the phone telling me to come on over. 

There are now 8 kids in the family, which means even more fun and even more action.  We arrived at their beautiful home, set amongst the amazing backdrop of fall colored mountains to find cookies being baked and kids running around the house.  It was wonderful to catch up on all that had happened since I had last visited six or seven years ago.  That evening, Page’s sister was putting on a free rooftop concert downtown so we followed Page and Vance on their orange Vespa and soon arrived at a beautifully lit, very well attended concert.  There was so much positive energy in the air, and on a particularly lively song, Page grabbed Vance’s hand and pulled him in front of the stage and began to dance.  All I could do was smile and laugh as I watched them spin around in front of the crowd, love flowing from their very being, their smiles lighting up each other’s face.  It is a refreshing and beautiful thing to witness a love like that, and it reminded me of my own parents and made me miss them. 

The following morning, we woke up to some gourmet waffles being whipped up in the kitchen.  The hustle bustle of the morning was thrilling as everyone woke up and gathered around for breakfast and signed up for Saturday chores.  It was great to be part of a family and to witness the amazing dynamic of this particular one.  We ate raspberries and apples from their garden, the eggs from their chickens were used in the waffles and the honey from their bees in the smoothie we drank.  After overindulging in waffles, we set off to check out a potential climb that Casey had seen from the road.  We hiked and bushwhacked for several hours only to arrive at the base of the rock and find that it was very chossy.  No first ascents for us!  

This morning was another breakfast party, this time crepes.  Voices chorused across the table asking for various ingredients to be passed.  Everyone was smiling and happy and enjoying each other’s company.  There is never a slow moment around here, people are always coming in and out of the doors and running around the house enjoying life. 

The weather is looking pretty spotty for the next week, but we may head to Colorado (state number 7!) today and make our way back to Utah in a few weeks.  We will be leaving Utah thoroughly refreshed and rejuvenated, not to mention clean and showered!  Today marks the official four-week mark on the road and I am looking forward to all the adventures that the next four will hold.    

Ed

We’ve officially been on our trip for two weeks. We’ve had two showers, covered 2200 miles and spanned 5 states. We have also summited one really tall mountain- the Grand Teton in Teton National Park, Wyoming. At 13,770 feet tall, the Grand is the tallest in the Teton Range.

We left Portland and the gracious hospitality of Casey’s friend Greg on a Thursday afternoon and the miles ticked by quickly as we made our way across the state and into Idaho. In Idaho, we were lured into the Sierra Trading Post outlet where I got a spiffy new tent. The two-person tent we had been using was somewhat small for two people and two large dogs, so it seemed like a worthy investment. We drove into the night, and found a sweet campsite just outside of Wyoming where we spent the remaining hours of the night. The next morning we drove across the border into the beautiful state of Wyoming. Wyoming is bursting with the season of fall. Reds, oranges and yellows pop out of the mountainsides and excite the eyes with fresh color. We dropped the dogs off at a 12-acre ranch that boards horses and dogs. They seemed stoked to get to run and play with the other dogs there, but it was sure hard to leave them! Due to the nature of our activities for the next few days however, it would have been impossible to have the dogs with us.

We arrived in Jackson and headed to the park to get our backcountry permit and choose a route to climb. We decided to do the Exum Direct, which takes you 2500 feet up to the summit of the Grand. Shortly after getting our permit, we got a call from my Aunt Lori who happened to be in town, visiting from Colorado! It was absolutely great to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle Jeff who treated us to wine and a delicious sushi dinner and ice cream for dessert.

The next morning, the real business began. I have never backpacked, or done any alpine climbing and we were about to do both. We packed up our bags and began the eight-mile trek up the mountain to set up base camp. I felt tired almost as soon as we started; my small backpack was loaded down with my climbing gear, the tent, my sleeping bag and sleeping pad and a bit of food for the next few days. At around the two-mile mark, we met Ed.

Ed was sitting down by a trail sign taking a break and we got to talking. Ed is 43 and was born with Cerebral Palsy. He walks with his knees bowed inward, but that does not stop him from hiking, skiing, and living each day with determination. He told us that his goal is to climb the Grand one day. His friend told him that if he can make the hike up, she will lead him up the rest of the climb. So Ed is training to be able to do the hike so he can achieve his goal of climbing the Grand. Upon meeting Ed, I felt ashamed of the thoughts that had been running through my head about how tired I was and how hard it was to hike. Here I was, young, fit and with a healthy and able body, complaining about hiking in one of the most beautiful settings on earth, and sitting before me was a man who got up each day and chose to walk this trail despite the difficulties it presented him. A smile appeared on my face. Talking to Ed was making me incredibly happy. This guy is rad. We talked a bit more, and proceeded up the trail. Ed kept us behind us as long as we could and eventually faded out of sight. When we sat down on the side of the trail to rest, Ed caught up to us again. Ed told us that this was the furthest he had been up the trail so far. He was debating whether or not he should keep hiking or turn back for the day. He told us about his struggle with differentiating between being wimpy and being stupid. We talked about pushing yourself and where to draw the line, when not to cross that boundary into a dangerous place. The same can be applied to climbing, sometimes it is good to go for the hard move, or try the hard route. On the flip side, sometimes it is not worth the risk and getting in over your head would be irresponsible and dangerous. Ed told us about moving to Jackson from New Orleans, and how the altitude was overwhelming at first. He told us of his progress up the trail and about skiing in Jackson Hole. Having Cerebral Palsy hasn’t slowed Ed down one bit. If anything it has made him a stronger, more determined person. Ed found out that we would be summiting the Grand on Chelsea’s birthday. He then wished Chelsea the most sincere, heartfelt and genuine happy birthday I have ever witnessed. He was truly excited that we would be completing such a cool feat for her birthday. Ed told us that if we were ever in Jackson during the ski season, we should look him up in the phone book and he would take us to the slopes. We decided to continue up the trail further, and wished Ed luck, not knowing whether he had decided to continue up the trail or turn back.

Another mile up the trail, we reached a junction in the trail and we decided to stop for lunch. We plopped down on the side of the trail, happy to put down our packs. After eating, I turned and saw Ed coming up the trail! “Is that the junction sign?” he asked. “I want to kiss it!” Ed came triumphantly up the trail and sat down right next to the sign. “I did it!” he exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to reach the sign.” It was truly a great thing to witness and I was just as stoked as Ed. As we parted ways, Ed back down the trail, and us continuing up, Ed wished us luck on our climb. “Say hi to God when you get to the top!” he told us as we headed up the trail.

I now hiked with a new determination. I was inspired by Ed. Every time I got tired I thought about him and his will power. Finally, we reached the place where we would set up our base camp. I set up my new tent, we cooked some Top Ramen, and we went to bed while the sun was still up so we could get plenty of rest for our climb. On Sunday morning, we woke up at 4 AM and packed our backpacks. We started hiking up in the dark with our headlamps. We hiked through the wind, past the guide huts at the top of the Lower Saddle and to the base of our climb. The sun came up as we started, but it was still bitterly cold! The first pitch was a struggle- cold and windy it was hard to grip the frozen rock. As we came over the crest of the first pitch, we were greeted by sunshine! From that point on, the climb was much warmer and more pleasurable. Climbing with three people meant that one person would lead the pitch and the second two would simul-climb it. Chelsea led the second pitch, I the third, and Casey linked the fourth and fifth. Chelsea finished up the lower section of the Exum with the lead of the sixth pitch. At this point, we were about half way done. We sat at the top of the Lower Exum and ate some snacks. Then it was time to start the upper half!

The Upper Exum is considerably easier than the Lower so we decided to simul the whole thing. This meant that all three of us were tied into the rope at the same time. The first person is tied into the end of the rope, the second person is tied in about half way, and the third about twenty or thirty feet behind them. The first person starts and places gear. The second person starts climbing when the rope gets taut and unclips the rope from the gear that is place and reclips it beneath them to the third person’s rope. The third person climbs behind, not climbing too fast so that the rope remains taut the whole time. They pick up the gear and put it on their harness. We continued up this way for an hour or two, covering about 1000 feet of climbing in that time.

Towards the top, we got a little lost trying to find the route and ended up going a slightly different way than we might have been supposed to, but nonetheless we soon reached the summit! I was exhausted but so psyched! We were so high above everything around us and the view was amazing. We howled and hollered into the open sky. Since we reached the summit later in the day than we had wanted, we had to start our descent quickly. We did two rappels and then started hiking down, but apparently were in the wrong gully. After some traversing, another rappel and lots of hiking we found the correct trail and started the steep descent. Exhausted, we finally reached our tent at 11 PM after being on the mountain for about 18 hours. I crawled into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.

Yesterday, we woke up to clouds and wind and realized how lucky we were to have perfect weather for our climb. We packed up camp and started the long hike down the mountain. On our way we met three rangers who were going to pack up the guide hut because the season was over. We had summited the Grand on the very last day of the season. Excellent! The hike was smooth and fairly quick, although I was extremely sore. I was so happy to make it to the parking lot (and to the bathroom!)

We spent the remainder of the day moseying around Jackson and then got an excellent offer from our friend Steph, a Cal Poly alumni, to stay at her house for the night. We got a nice hot shower, got to soak in a hot tub and hang out with great company, and sleep inside a house! Thanks Steph! Now we are packing up the car, going to pick up the dogs and head to City of Rocks in Idaho.

Thank you Wyoming ☺

Oregon

This is a very quick update, lacking details and elegant writing style. But what can I say, I'm sitting in a garage in Portland on my crash pad and I'm sleepy!

Where to begin? We’ve been on the road for about ten days now and a lot has happened! I’ll try to cover it the best I can. We left Tahoe late in the afternoon on Sunday, September 5th. We made it to Davis to pick up Casey and had to deal with the task of fitting everything into the car. We went through all of our things, asking ourselves, ‘do I really need this?’ Thanks to our spiffy new roof box, and some excellent packing, we were able to fit everything into the car and still see out the back window. Great success!

We hit the road at about 9 PM and drove straight through the night, arriving at Smith Rock in Oregon at about 5 AM the next morning. We looked at the temperature gauge in the car and were shocked to see that it said 27 degrees. Definitely not the hot temps we were expecting. We grabbed a campsite at Skull Hollow, slept for a few hours and then headed to the crag. The day turned out to be rather warm, despite the freezing temperatures of the night before. We spent all day at Phoenix Buttress climbing moderate climbs in the company of other fun climbers.

The dogs were very well behaved, and everyone at the crag loved them! Someone even said, “when I have a dog one day, I hope it is as cool as either of your dogs!” Wow, what a great thing to hear! Well unfortunately, I learned the next day that there is a rule at Smith Rock that you cannot tie your dog to a tree, rock or anything besides yourself while you are at the park. This proved to be a pain and put a bit of a damper on the rest of the week. Despite some doggy drama, it was a great week at Smith.

We met some really cool people, and met up with a bunch of Cal Poly people (now alumni) such as Alex, Vikki, Grant, Amy, Margot and more. We were plagued by three days of rain, but were able to climb a bit during those days. Due to the rain and dog restrictions, it was not ideal to get on any hard climbs and project them so we headed out from Smith on Sunday morning.

From there we went about 40 minutes north to Trout Creek. We camped by the Deschutes River and hiked the horribly long and steep hike up to the crag on Sunday and Monday. Trout Creek was really cool. It is a small buttress on top of a huge hill. It is all splitter cracks, not my style, but I am learning. This was a good place for the dogs because they could get lots of exercise hiking up to the crag and were free to roam off leash once there.

On Monday night, we got a fantastic lightening storm as we drove into town to go to a bar for some food and beer. More rain put us to sleep that night, and the next morning we packed up and headed for Portland. We started out going in the wrong direction somehow for the first 30 minutes of our drive, but were soon on our way to the city. I had no idea that Portland was so big, and so … strange. It is a really cool city but definitely has its quirks.

Today we went to a little crag called Ozone, which is just over the border in Washington. Fun sport climbing, followed by… you guessed it, rain! It seems that the rainy season has arrived in Oregon, Washington and Squamish. We are ready to move away from this rain, so tomorrow we are headed to the Tetons. We are absolutely stoked! After that we will head to City of Rocks in Idaho and on to Utah and Colorado. Well that is the update for now. It is time to get some sleep before our long drive tomorrow.

Inspiration

I pedaled down the seemingly endless stretch of dark pavement, hugging the white line closely, trying not to drift left into traffic, should a car ever venture down this path, and avoiding a veer to the right and whatever ditch or curb may lie there. It is night, about 8:30, and it is dark. All the familiar landscapes and landmarks of the day are no longer there, and only black voids fill their space. I strain my eyes for some clue as to where I am on the road, how much further it is to the end of the path where I will turn around and take the dark journey again back home. I decided to take a bike ride to clear my head of all my jumbled excitements and stresses of our upcoming trip and discovered that night seems to have gotten a lot darker since I had seen it last. It is in these times, when we realize just how dark darkness can be that we really start to think. For me my thoughts went something like this:

“What was that noise!?” 
“Is there something hiding in that bush?” 
“Why is that car slowing down?”

You thought I was going to say something really deep there, didn’t you? Seriously though, I may be paranoid, but I was able to do some reflecting on my summer and on the upcoming journey, which is now just a few days away.

As we arrived in Tahoe, we were surrounded by mountains that were still snow covered, and the crowds were nowhere to be found. Each day was filled with exploration of the endless possibilities that lay before us. We approached our climbs through snow, had snowball fights on the side of the path, and watched as the dogs joyously romped through snow piles, wrestling and making snow cones (that was a lot of snow for one sentence). As the days passed, more and more people arrived at the crags where we were now locals; snow melted and turned trickles into streams, which then turned to small rivers. The days stretched on, as the sunlight replaced our need for headlamps, we climbed well into the evening. As more time passed, the rivers turned back to streams, then to trickles, to puddles and then back to dry earth. The sunlight has begun shrinking back earlier and earlier, and we find ourselves rappelling off our climbs in the dark once more. It is clear to me that it is time to move on, time to start our adventure.

I pedal down the road into the night, this ride somehow seeming longer than the 72-mile ride we did circumventing the lake two days before. I start to think about how we get places and why we do things. About inspiration.

Pedal, pedal

I see my Dad, riding in a gear that seems beyond Granny, his legs pumping furiously, bike hardly moving, as he pedals my new Trek up the impossibly steep driveway at Cerro Vista Student Housing. In this image, he is a seasoned veteran, dropping off his last child at college. My dad inspires me. He is slow to anger, exceptionally patient, extremely patient, selfless and incredibly wise. Whenever I am about to react adversely to something, I always think WWDD, what would dad do? It’s usually not what I am about to do, so I pause and change my course. Thanks for being so smart dad.

Pedal, pedal

I think about my friends, all of who inspire me in very different ways. There are the ones who amaze me with their dedication to school and to their studies. The ones who are excellent at being there for you when you need them. The ones whose endless joy and exuberance can lift you up out of the deepest sadness. Chelsea, who has my back like a chiropractor, and Alex who always impresses me with his zest and endless passion for life and love. Thank you friends for teaching me to be a better person.

Pedal, pedal, pedal

I realize that the dark is good for something. I look up and see thousands of stars, stretching across the sky. I think of Tim and how when we first started dating I left for Honduras for six weeks. Before I left, he told me, “At night, if you get sad or lonely, just look up at the stars and know that I will be looking at them too. We may be far away, but we’ll be looking at the same stars and that will bring us together.” Tim inspires me. He taught me to love everyone like a brother or sister, to see the good in them, and to encourage them to see it too. Thank you Tim for teaching me to love.

Pedal… pedal.

How long is this road anyway? Thinking beyond who inspires me, I think about what inspires me. Nature, rocks, lakes, passion, road trips, food, climbing! I think Fred Nicole puts it best. He says, “What makes climbing so great is that it’s not rules invented from the humans beings, it’s given from the natural [nature], so there are as many possibilities as there are rocks on this planet.” Beautiful. Humans have a tendency to mess things up, but nature… nature is perfect. Nature is the best route setter, the best hold shaper! I like what Kevin Jorgeson says, “My style is to do what inspires you, whatever that is. I used to be really psyched on doing the hardest moves I can, but I don’t know, something shifted in me a couple years ago where just being part of the landscape on a big beautiful line for an instant was what really got me psyched on climbing.” I am inspired to climb things that make me smile. Usually that is something easy. I am not often smiling while pulling off tiny holds and working arduous cruxes, and that is perfectly fine with me. Sometimes I like to crush, but most of the time I’m just cruising along with my homies.

So what inspires you? Climbing? Cooking, biking, reading, building things, drawing, singing, dancing? Whatever it is, do what you love. Be inspired, and let that joy be inspirational to others.

By the way… I’M LEAVING FOR SMITH ROCK RIGHT NOW! YES!

Girl Talk

Whew. It’s been a while. Things have been “hectic” at least as much as they can be in Tahoe. Lots of visitors, lots of working, lots of doggy dealings with. As the days slide away, anticipation for our trip starts to grow. I am so fortunate to be going on this trip with my partner in crime (PIC), Chelsea . As I think back on the summer so far, I realize that all but three of my climbing visitors or partners have been male. There’s been Alex B., Drew, Kent , Nolan, Casey, Ian, Erik, Eric, Corbin, Andrew, Danny, Walker , Robby, Aaron, Alex K. and Kyle. On the female side we have Chelsea, Lisa, and Haylee, a much shorter list. While I love my boys, I realize that there is something special about a climbing partnership between two gals. I’ve decided to examine the good, the bad, and the ugly about being a pair of climber chicks.

Pros 

1. Campsites become easier to find. Upon arrival at Camp 4 late one afternoon, Chelsea and I were quite bummed to find that the campground was full. Unwilling to drive back out of the park, unable to find $20 cash to try at Pines, we were left unsure of what to do. We grabbed our six pack of Newcastle out of the car and sat forlornly on our crashpad in the middle of the campground. Within a few minutes, we had our first offer (from a guy) to crash someone’s campsite. Then another, then another. A half hour after we had plopped down on our crashpad, void of hope, we were sitting at a roaring campfire, being offered dinner, while guys talking in British accents passed us more Newcastles (Newkies) and Klean Kanteens full of whiskey. 

2. People think you’re good. When two chicks show up at the crag with a rack of trad gear and get ready to tie into the sharp end, people think you’re a badass. Not gunna lie… it feels kinda cool. 

3. People think you suck. Sometimes however, just because you’re a chick, people think you must have a lesser climbing ability. This can be a good thing because either a) you surprise them with your amazing abilities, or b) you can get them to do things for you such as 1. spot you on a boulder problem (hey I’m really scared and sucky, and you’re really cute and I think you should probably catch me when I come tumbling off this boulder) 2. lead a spooky climb for you, or 3. teach you something new. 

4. You get to drink more wine. I know dudes like wine too, but there is just something special about sharing a chocolate bar and a bottle of wine with your gal pal in front of the campfire after a full day of climbing. …Or midday when you remember you stashed a bottle behind your tire and realize you need to drink it before a bear gets it. 

5. Ratio. Fact: Wherever your climbing trip takes you, you will always find more guys than girls at the crag or the campground. That’s just the way it is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to have other chicks around, but it’s not bad being the only two girls at a 20-person campfire sometimes.

Cons 

1. DSB. We were first introduced to this term in Camp 4 in Yosemite. DSB= Deadly Semen Buildup. It is a plague that strikes males on extended climbing trips. Due to the ratio of males to females in the climbing world (see Pros: Ratio above), males on climbing trips can often go days without seeing a female. When a female is sighted, she may already have a hunky climber boyfriend, or just be too bad-ass for the poor male. The result: you may find an excess of whiny, frustrated boys around your campfire. 

2. People think you’re good. Living up to expectations can be hard. Who needs the pressure? 

3. People think you suck. Unfair judgment! Lynn Hill. Need I say more? Just because we’re chicks doesn’t mean you need to give us the, “do you know what you’re getting yourselves into?” talk/look/lecture/warning before we climb. Yes, thank you very much, we do. And we’ll take a no hands rest on your crux, or free solo your proj, or climb it in our flippy floppys just to prove it. Hrmph. 

4. You get to drink more wine. There is such a thing as too much wine. Sometimes. 

5. You are similarly smelly. When you and your PIC avoid showering, hair brushing, and deodorant at the same rate, you usually become dirty and stinky at the same pace. This often means that you don’t notice your own scent, and you are also unable to distinguish that your friend is smelly too. Unable to detect each other’s smell, unable to warn each other of impending offense, you risk meeting new people and scaring them away with your odor or the unruly dreadlocks that are forming in your hair.

I am so looking forward to the adventures that four months of climbing with Chelsea will bring (oh, and you too Casey!). Girls just wanna have fun, and this holds true on the rocks, in the car, and at the campground. So if your climbing partner has two X chromosomes, be thankful, it means twice the kisses (XOXO), twice the love, twice the fun.